Economics

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Dr. Michael King

Dr. Michael King

Assistant Professor, Economics

www.michaelking.ie

Biography

Michael King is Assistant Professor of Economics at Trinity College Dublin. His research is on the microeconomics of development with a focus on financial inclusion, social protection and gender. Michael is a co-founder and director of the Trinity Impact Evaluation Research Centre (TIME) and regularly contributes to the literature on development policy. His large scale research project spans nine countries; Kenya, India, ireland, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Mauritania, the US and Zambia. Michael has previously worked as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for International Integration Studies (2007-2012), economist with Forfás and the National Competitiveness Council in Dublin (2016-2017) and is the founder and former Chief Executive Officer (2001-2004) of Dublin based international development agency Suas Educational Development. Michael holds a Masters in economics and international development (MPA/ID) from Harvard University and a BA and PhD in economics from Trinity College Dublin. Michael has been awarded the O'Reilly Foundation Scholarship (2003), the Fulbright Scholarship (2004), the John F. Kennedy Scholarship (2004) and the Provost Teaching Award (2017).

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Michael King, Broadening the Global Development Framework Post 2015: Embracing Policy Coherence and Global Public Goods , European Journal for Development Research, 2016Journal Article, 2016, URL
  • Distribution and Poverty in, editor(s)John O'hagan and Francis O'Toole , The Economy of Ireland: Policy Making in a global Context, Palgrave Macmillan , 2017, pp205 - 235, [Michael King]Book Chapter, 2017, URL
  • Michael King, Consumer Mortgage Preferences and Behavioural Biases, Trinity College Dublin, 2018Dataset, 2018, URL
  • Michael King and Tara Mitchell, Savings Groups in Western Kenya: Transactions and Member Data, Trinity College Dublin, 2018Dataset, 2018, URL
  • King, Michael and Anuj Singh, Understanding Farmer's Valuation of Agricultural Insurance: Evidence from Viet Nam, Food Policy, 94, (101861 3), 2020Journal Article, 2020, URL
  • King, Michael, Bedi, Tara and Anu Jose, Joint Accounts in the Fintech Era: How Does Labelling, Transparency and Approval Rules Affect Spousal Financial, Trinity College Dublin , 2022Dataset, 2022, URL
  • King, Michael, Bhanot, Syon and Siegfried Zottel, Two-way Text Messaging for Financial Behavior Change in Zambia, World Bank, 2022Dataset, 2022, URL
  • Inequality and Poverty in, editor(s)John O'Hagan, Francis O'Toole and Ciara Whelan , The Economy of Ireland: Policy Making in a Global Context, London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021, [Michael King]Book Chapter, 2021, URL
  • Michael King, Tara Bedi, Impact of the 2019 Malawi Floods, Trinity College Dublin, TIME, 2021Dataset, 2021, URL
  • King Michael, Chaning Jang, Daniel Putman and Shane Byrne, Strategies for Reducing Non-Institutional Fraud and Building Trust in a Digital Market Platform: Evidence from a Lab Study in Nigeria, Innovation for Poverty Action, 2023Dataset, 2023, URL
  • Michael King, Daniel Putman, Shane Byrne and Chaning Jang, Navigating the Rise in Non-Institutional Digital Fraud: An Experiment with Micro Enterprises in Nigeria, 2024Working Paper, 2024, URL
  • Shane Byrne, Kenneth Devine, Michael King, Yvonne McCarthy and Christopher Palmer, The Last Mile of Monetary Policy: Inattention, Reminders, and the Refinancing Channel, 2023Working Paper, 2023, URL
  • Michael King, Tara Bedi and Julia Vaillant, Gender Focused Evaluation of a Multi-faceted Anti-poverty Programme for the Ultra Poor: Longitudinal Dataset from Rural Malawi, Concern Worldwide, 2024Dataset, 2024, URL
  • Michael King, Paolina Medina, Roland Umanan, and Benjamin Radoc, What Matters for Consumer Credit Choice? Non-standard disclosures in the Philippine Digital Credit Market, TCD, 2025Dataset, 2025, URL
  • Frank Barry, Michael King and Alan Matthews, Policy Coherence for Development: Five Challenges, Irish Studies in International Affairs, 21, 2010, p207-223Journal Article, 2010, URL
  • Social Justice: Distribution, Poverty and Policy Responses in, editor(s)John O'Hagan and Carol Newman , The Economy of Ireland, Dublin, Gill and Macmillan, 2011, pp205 - 235, [Michael King]Book Chapter, 2011, URL
  • Cause and Effect of Financial Access in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cross Country Evidence from the Finscope Surveys in, editor(s)Robert Cull, Asli Demirgüç-Kunt and Jonathan Morduch , Banking the World: Empirical Foundations of Financial Inclusion, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2013, pp45-84 , [Patrick Honohan and Michael King]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Frank Barry and Michael King, The Coherence of Ireland's Foreign Direct Investment Policy with Development Objectives, Trócaire Development Review, 2009, p97 - 113Journal Article, 2009
  • A Conceptual Framework for Financial Inclusion and Recent Evidence for Sub-Saharan Africa in, editor(s)Loius Brennan , Enacting Globalization: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on International Integration, Dublin, Palgrave, 2014, pp20-32 , [Michael King]Book Chapter, 2014, URL
  • Michael King, Green Growth and Poverty Reduction: Policy Coherence for Pro-Poor Growth, 2013Working Paper, 2013, URL
  • Social Justice: Distribution, Poverty, and Policy Responses in, editor(s)John O'Hagan and Carol Newman , The Economy of Ireland, 12th Edition, Dublin, Gill and Macmillan, 2014, [Michael King]Book Chapter, 2014, URL
  • Amrik Heyer and Michael King, The Kenyan Financial Transformation (2005-2015), FSD Kenya, 2015Book, 2015, URL
  • Formal Financial Inclusion in Kenya: Understanding the Demand-Side Constraints in, editor(s)Amrik Heyer and Michael King , Kenya's Financial Transformation in the 21st Century, Nairobi, Kenya, FSD Kenya, 2015, [M. King]Book Chapter, URL
  • Tara Bedi, Anu Puthenmadathil Jose, Michael King, How Does Workfare, Labelling, Transparency and Approval Rules Affect Spousal Financial Decision Making, 2023Working Paper, URL
  • Frank Barry, Michael King and Alan Matthews, Policy Coherence for Development (PCD): The State of Play in Ireland, Dublin, Institute for International Integration Studies, 2009Book, URL , TARA - Full Text
  • Ireland's Treasure by National Competitiveness in, editor(s)Ed Burke and Ronan Lyons , Next Generation Ireland, Dublin, Blackhall Publishing, 2011, pp91 - 114, [Michael King]Book Chapter
  • Niels Keijzer, Michael King, Alan Matthews and Eunike Spierings, Measuring Policy Coherence for Development: Study on Modernising the Comparability of Donor Contributions Post-2015, Maastricht, The Netherlands, ECDPM, 2012Report
  • Vahagn Galstyan , Michael King and Alan Matthews, The Competitiveness of UK Priority Export Sectors, London, United Kingdom Trade and Investment (UKTI), 2009Report
  • Michael King and Alan Matthews, Policy Coherence for Development : Indicators for Ireland, Dublin, Institute for International Integration Studies, 2012, 1, 101Report
  • Niels Keijzer and Michael King, Monitoring the Effects of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) in Developing Countries, London, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2012Report
  • Michael King, The Unbanked Four-fifths: Informality and Barriers to Banking Services in Nigeria, 2012Working Paper
  • Michael King, Is Mobile Banking Breaking the Tyranny of Distance to Bank Infrastructure? Evidence from Kenya, 2012Working Paper
  • Keijzer, N., King, M., Spierings, E., Matthews, A. , Measuring Policy Coherence for Development, Maastricht, Netherlands, European Centre for Development Policy Management, May, 2012, 58Report, URL
  • Niels Keijzer and Michael King, Monitoring the Effects of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Developing Countries, London, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), 2012Report, URL

Research Expertise

  • Title
    Financial Inclusion and Financial Sector Development in Kenya
    Summary
    This research programme will investigate important issues such as the interaction between poverty and financial inclusion, the geospatial dimensions of financial access, the impact of new financial services and the changing role of mobile banking services. The research programme will have a special focus on assessing the impact of new financial products and related technologies.
    Funding Agency
    Financial Sector Deepening (FSD) Kenya
    Date From
    Nov 2013
    Date To
    Dec 2015
  • Title
    Flexible Loans and Locked Savings for Female Market Vendors in India
    Summary
    Financing Working Capital for Female Vendors in India
    Funding Agency
    Innovation for Poverty Action
    Date From
    2017
    Date To
    2021
  • Title
    Graduation out of Poverty and Gender Dynamics in Malawi
    Summary
    Funding Agency
    Concern Worldwide
    Date From
    2017
    Date To
    2021
  • Title
    The Impact of Innovative Mobile Financial Products on Vulnerable Groups in Kenya
    Summary
    In partnership with a leading bank in Kenya this project seeks to assess the impact of mobile savings and lending products on welfare outcomes and bargaining power within the household.
    Funding Agency
    TCD
    Date From
    April 2015
    Date To
    April 2016
  • Title
    Text Messaging for Financial Behaviour Change in Zambia
    Summary
    Working with Natsave, Zambia, this project employs a novel text-messaging-based intervention to: 1) identify the behavioral barriers that lead to low engagement with formal financial services amongst those using the services; and 2) test strategies to help people overcome those barriers to increase engagement and financial security. Additionally, the study will provide the first evidence on the impact of conversational, two-way text messaging designed to encourage savings and improve loan repayment behaviors through Q&A capabilities and efforts to enhance trust in formal financial products. The study is working with 84,000 Natsave customers and involves both phone surveys and in-person surveys.
    Funding Agency
    World Bank i2i Fund
    Date From
    2017
    Date To
    2019
  • Title
    Policy Coherence for Development
    Summary
    With the support of The Advisory Board for Irish Aid (ABIA), IIIS is conducting a four year research programme (2007-2010) on the coherence of various aspects of Irish government domestic policy with the objectives of Irish Aid to reduce poverty in developing countries in line with our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. The research programme is comprised of two phases. In phase one an extensive survey of the activities of all Irish Government Departments will be conducted to identify policy areas that affect developing countries. The findings of this scoping research will be published in mid-2008. Phase two comprises in-depth research into a number of key PCD issues identified by the scoping research report and will be concluded in 2010. The IIIS/ABIA research will be widely disseminated to policy makers and members of the development community through open presentations and publications.
    Funding Agency
    ABIA
    Date From
    June 2006
    Date To
    May 2010

Recognition

  • O'Reilly Scholarship 2004
  • Provost Teaching Award 2017
  • John F. Kennedy Scholarship 2004
  • Provost Teaching Award Commendation 2016
  • Fulbright Scholarship (awarded) 2004
  • European Economics Association
  • Member, American Economic Association
  • Research Affiliate, Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA)
  • Research Associate, Trinity Research in Social Science (TRISS)
  • Research Associate, Trinity Research in Social Science (TRISS)